Mueda

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

title: "Mueda" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-in-cabo-delgado-province", "makonde-people", "mozambican-war-of-independence"] topic_path: "history/military" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mueda" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
official_nameMueda
image_skylineMuedaMassacre.jpg
image_captionMueda Town Square, site of the 1960 massacre
pushpin_mapMozambique
subdivision_typeCountry
subdivision_name
subdivision_type1Provinces
subdivision_name1Cabo Delgado Province
subdivision_type2District
subdivision_name2Mueda District
leader_title1
established_title2
unit_pref
population_as_of2006
settlement_type
coordinates
elevation_footnotes
elevation_m249
elevation_ft820
postal_code_type
::

|official_name = Mueda |other_name = |native_name = |nickname = |motto = |image_skyline = MuedaMassacre.jpg |imagesize = |image_caption = Mueda Town Square, site of the 1960 massacre |image_flag = |flag_size = |image_seal = |seal_size = |image_shield = |shield_size = |image_blank_emblem = |blank_emblem_size = |image_map = |mapsize = |map_caption = |pushpin_map = Mozambique |pushpin_label_position = |pushpin_mapsize = |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = |subdivision_type1 = Provinces |subdivision_name1 = Cabo Delgado Province |subdivision_type2 = District |subdivision_name2 = Mueda District |government_type = |leader_title = |leader_name = |leader_title1 =
|leader_name1 = |established_title = |established_date = |established_title2 =
|established_date2 = |established_title3 = |established_date3 = |area_magnitude = |unit_pref = |area_footnotes = |area_total_km2 = |area_land_km2 = |area_water_km2 = |area_total_sq_mi = |area_land_sq_mi = |area_water_sq_mi = |area_water_percent = |area_urban_km2 = |area_urban_sq_mi = |area_metro_km2 = |area_metro_sq_mi = |population_as_of = 2006 |population_footnotes = |population_note = |settlement_type = |population_total = |population_density_km2 = |population_density_sq_mi = |population_metro = |population_density_metro_km2 = |population_density_metro_sq_mi = |population_urban = |population_density_urban_km2 = |population_density_urban_mi2 = |timezone = |utc_offset = |timezone_DST = |utc_offset_DST = |coordinates = |elevation_footnotes =
|elevation_m = 249 |elevation_ft = 820 |postal_code_type =
|postal_code = |area_code = |website = |footnotes =

Mueda is the largest town of the Makonde Plateau in northeastern Mozambique. It is the capital of the Mueda District in Cabo Delgado Province. It is the center of the culture of the Makondes, and the production of their ebony sculptures.

Geography

Mueda is located on the upland Mueda Plateau, which has a more temperate climate than the coast, but where, because of the permeable sandy soil, water infiltrates to a great depth, making it difficult to supply drinking water. In about 1970, Portugal, the ruling authority of Mozambique at the time, built a system to supply drinkable water, under the direction of the engineer Canhoto. In the 1980s, after the independence of Mozambique from Portugal, the system was rebuilt by the Mozambican government, with the assistance of UNICEF and Swiss co-operation.

Climate

|location = Mueda |single line = Yes |metric first = Yes |Jan high F = 82 |Feb high F = 82 |Mar high F = 81 |Apr high F = 79 |May high F = 78 |Jun high F = 76 |Jul high F = 76 |Aug high F =77 |Sep high F = 80 |Oct high F = 83 |Nov high F =85 |Dec high F = 84 |year high F = 80 |Jan low F = 65 |Feb low F = 66 |Mar low F = 65 |Apr low F = 63 |May low F = 61 |Jun low F = 57 |Jul low F = 56 |Aug low F = 56 |Sep low F = 58 |Oct low F = 61 |Nov low F = 63 |Dec low F = 64 |year low F = 61 |Jan precipitation inch = 10.6 |Feb precipitation inch =8.6 |Mar precipitation inch = 9.2 |Apr precipitation inch = 4.9 |May precipitation inch = 0.9 |Jun precipitation inch = 0.2 |Jul precipitation inch = 0 |Aug precipitation inch = 0.1 |Sep precipitation inch = 0.1 |Oct precipitation inch = 0.2 |Nov precipitation inch = 1.6 |Dec precipitation inch = 6.9 |year precipitation inch = 43.4 |source 1 = Weatherbase |url =http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=160276&refer=wikipedia |title =Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Mueda, Mozambique |publisher=Weatherbase |year=2011 Retrieved on November 24, 2011. |date=November 2011

History

Mueda was founded around a Portuguese colonial army barracks.

Massacre of Mueda

On 16 June 1960, Makonde nationalists organized a demonstration in front of the Mueda District headquarters on the Mueda town square in order to demand independence from Portugal. Apparently the district administrator had invited them to present their grievances. The administrator ordered the leaders arrested, and the crowd protested. The Portuguese administrator ordered his pre-assembled troops to fire on the crowd, after which many more were thrown to their death into a ravine. The number of dead is in dispute. However, resentment generated by these events ultimately led to the independentist guerrilla organization FRELIMO gaining needed momentum at the outset of the Mozambican War of Independence (1964–1975). The site of the massacre is marked by a commemorative statue.

War for independence

The Makonde were strong supporters of FRELIMO. In fact, the Makonde African National Union (MANU - later Mozambique African National Union) was one of the three founding organizations of FRELIMO. Mueda was also the site of Portuguese operations against FRELIMO. In 1967, in one of its first major military actions, FRELIMO launched an abortive attack against the airbase there, although the base was seriously damaged. In May 1970, General Arriaga began Operation Gordian Knot, headquartered out of Mueda. By the end of the operation, he claimed to have eliminated over seventy FRELIMO bases. However, other than loss of equipment and supplies, the operation did not affect FRELIMO's ability to infiltrate additional arms from Tanzania, and did not substantially affect their ability to wage war. In a later attack, in 1972, against the Mueda airbase, all nineteen airplanes were destroyed.

Images from Mueda

File:Municipio de Mueda (9806338906).jpg|Mueda Municipality Building File:MuedaAirport.JPG|Mueda Airport c. 1995 File:MuedaGas 0126.jpg|Refueling station in Mueda c. 1995

Notes

References

  2. Fitzpatrick, Mary. (2006). "Mozambique". Lonely Planet.
  3. West, Harry. (February 2001). "Sorcery of Construction and Socialist Modernization: Ways of Understanding Power in Postcolonial Mozambique". [[American Ethnologist]].
  4. (1987). "Water use and health in Mueda, Mozambique". [[Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene]].
  5. Azevedo, Mario. (1991). "Historical Dictionary of Mozambique". Scarecrow Press.
  6. West, Harry G.. (2003). "Transparency and Conspiracy". Duke University Press.
  7. Newitt, Malyn. (1995). "A History of Mozambique". Indiana University Press.
  8. West, Harry G.. (2003). "Transparency and Conspiracy". Duke University Press.
  9. Azevedo, Mario. (1991). "Historical Dictionary of Mozambique". Scarecrow Press.
  10. Newitt, Malyn. (1995). "A History of Mozambique". Indiana University Press.
  11. (1984). "Nationalism and New States in Africa: From about 1935 to the Present". Heinemann.
  12. Newitt, Malyn. (1995). "A History of Mozambique". Indiana University Press.
  13. Schneidman, Witney Wright. (2004). "Engaging Africa: Washington and the Fall of Portugal's Colonial Empire". University Press of America.
  14. (1984). "Nationalism and New States in Africa: From about 1935 to the Present". Heinemann.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

populated-places-in-cabo-delgado-provincemakonde-peoplemozambican-war-of-independence